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Daniel Proussalidis, National Bureau

Jun 20, 2014

, Last Updated: 12:16 AM ET

OTTAWA — On the eve of the annual National March for Life in Ottawa, activists renewed their call for Health Canada to deny approval for the abortion pill RU-486, which has been under evaluation since 2012.

Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) calls the drug a “human pesticide” that can cause uncontrollable bleeding and deadly infections as it causes pregnant women to miscarry.

“Bringing RU-486 to Canada has been tried before and failed,” CLC youth co-ordinator Alisa Golob said. “The question is: Have we learned from history or will we simply ignore it?”

A Canadian trial of the pill stopped in 2001 after a woman died from a clostridium infection 10 days after taking the drug.

RU-486 has been approved for use in the U.S., but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it “may possibly be related” to at least eight deaths from serious infections.

CLC’s Matthew Wojciechowski said he wishes officials would provide more information about the Canadian evaluation process.

“It’s very frustrating especially for taxpayers and for Canadians at large that such a controversial, deadly abortion drug in Canada might be made available to Canadians,” he said.

A Conservative official said Health Minister Rona Ambrose will play no role in the decision on RU-486 because that authority has been delegated solely to Health Canada.

The CLC has made its campaign against RU-486 the theme of the March of Life, which will wind its way through Ottawa on Thursday, ending with a midday rally on Parliament Hill.